At 93, he’s the oldest priest in the Diocese of Kansas City – St. Joseph. “I wasn’t ordained to retire,” Monsignor William Blacet told me. The still-active Pastor of Our Lady of Good Counsel Parish shared his thoughts with me last week about the importance of the sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick:

What has been your approach to ministering to the sick or dying?

I try to think of our Lord’s approach. He was very compassionate. Always went out of his way. He brought back the dead. He cured, one by one, hundreds of people. He chased out the demons. So, if a person is getting old or health is going down, they need extra help, extra attention. They need encouragement.

That’s a time when the devil, and I’m with the Pope on that, the devil’s very influential and active today. The devil’s going to come after you because you’re weak. Things aren’t going your way and you need somebody to say, ‘Hey, stick in there’.

In my experience, the Anointing of the Sick has been misused, misinformed and hasn’t been taught. In the beginning it was the Anointing of the Sick and then we came along and it became – the last rights. . . Like they said, the old timer is dying and father comes in and says, ‘Sam you’re pretty sick.’

‘That’s what they tell me.’

‘So I’ve come to anoint you.’

‘Am I really dying, father?’

‘Well I wouldn’t say you’re dying this minute or tomorrow, but you’re in bad shape Sam.’

‘Father, why don’t you come back next week and see.’

When you saw father come in to the house, you might as well call the undertaker. It was the last minute. That was prevalent, even somewhat today. Vatican II changed that. It brought back the Anointing of the Sick. . .

What we are lacking today, I think, is informing the people of the beauty of the Anointing of the Sick. So, if you are 65 or older or if you’re seriously sick or if you’re going to be operated on, fine, let’s anoint you. Because you need the extra strength, encouragement, that God is here. He loves you and he wants you to love him and stick with him. So he’s given us this sacrament to let you know that Christ is here with you, and don’t let him down. Stick with him. . .

We need that help of the sacrament. . .

How do people react to or benefit from the sacrament?

Usually it’s one of comfort. They appreciate it. I see through the sacrament, the Holy Spirit working in them. . .

The Holy Spirit gives them the strength, gives them the encouragement and the graces that they need. Plus, what do we say in there?

We say, ‘May the Lord who frees you from sin save you and raise you up’. Your sins are being forgiven. Even though they say, ‘Father, my sins are so many,’ . . . this sacrament says, he frees you from your sins. You’re gonna be saved man. What more could you ask for? What has this world got that you think is more important the seeing God and being with God.

People hope for some physical healing too?

Oh they do. But the important thing that you have to realize, and I have to realize, is the soul is far more important than the body. So, if God wants you to be healed physically, fine, that’s his business. But I’m more concerned about being healed spiritually. . . That’s the important thing. . . Physical is minor compared to the spiritual.

Many years ago, for reasons I won’t bother you with, I was afforded the opportunity to perform twenty hours of community service at the charity of my choice. After putting it off until the last minute, I chose the Missionaries of Charity AIDS hospice, then in San Francisco. It was close to my girlfriend’s apartment.

I wasn’t very eager, but the sisters welcomed me. My first responsibility was to drive the sisters to Project Open Hand and pick up food to be distributed to shut-in AIDS sufferers at 6th Street and Tenderloin flophouses. Considering the neighborhoods they were serving, I was also an unofficial bodyguard. I’m six foot two and over 200 pounds and the sisters range at the lower end of five feet. These women didn’t need any bodyguard, though. They’re strong and held their own in any situation.

My twenty hours ran out, but I couldn’t stop coming back. I wanted to see the sisters.

The main reason the sisters do what they do is that they see an image of Christ in all of the people they serve, especially the poorest of the poor.

After my twenty hours were over, my main responsibility was to hang out with the men to talk and smoke, and drive them to the hospital for treatment.

At the entrance to the room where I hung out with the men, the sisters had a poster of Christ. It was a terribly graphic representation of Him after the scourging. He wasn’t the strong and serene “Good Shepherd”, and He wasn’t the glorious risen Christ with five vague symbolic wounds. Chunks of flesh were ripped out of His body by the scourging. Blood was flowing and he was sorrowful. A caption read, “I thirst.” It bothered me whenever I saw it and I thought, sarcastically, “How lovely!”

I certainly saw an image of Christ in the sisters, but getting to know the men, I struggled to find an image of Christ in them. They were a cantankerous bunch.

They complained about the sisters. They complained about their medical treatment. They convinced me to buy them cigarettes and other things with no intention of paying me back. I listened to them whine endlessly, to and from the hospital. I often had to make side-trips on the way back from hospital in order to visit a favorite restaurant or bookstore. They complained about me, and I complained about them.

Some of them had horrible stories. One had abandoned his wife and children and had acquired AIDS picking up young male prostitutes on Polk Street.

I went with the sisters once to visit a man whom I got along with particularly well. He was committed to the psych-ward at S.F. General because he had tried to commit suicide twice. The sisters couldn’t keep him in their residence, but they still wanted to visit him. I brought him a carton of Marlboros.

A young short Hispanic sister told me as we were waiting for the elevator to go to the dreaded fourth floor, very sincerely and in a heavy accent, “You are building a crown for yourself in heaven which can never be taken away no matter what you do.”

I thought to myself, “Whatever, sister! I just drove you here and bought him some cigs.”

I got to know most of the men well and enjoyed their company despite the dementia that had settled into a number of them in the last stages of their disease. There was fulfillment in my work, but not the kind the sisters had. I felt I was fulfilling my duties to Christian charity, but not that I was actually serving images of the scourged Christ.

One day I was asked to come by and take a man to the hospital whom I’d never spoken to before. Some other volunteers carried him down the steps and placed him in the passenger seat of my Chevy Blazer.

I drove him alone to S.F. General and he spent most of the time thanking me and telling me how important prayer had become in his life. By the look of him, that life was about to end and I had no expectation of taking him home from the hospital. I don’t know what his story was or how he arrived in the position he was in. He had a growth the size of a baseball in his groin, he couldn’t walk, he was gaunt and in pain.

I paid little attention and was fearing our arrival at the hospital, because I knew I would have to lift him out of my high SUV seat to put him in his wheelchair.

On arrival, I went to lift him and was surprised at how easy it was; he was all bones. I was also surprised when I felt something wet and then looked at my car-seat as I was pulling him out. He had urinated on my seat!

He groaned a bit in pain as I lifted him down from the car and kept saying “I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry. Thank you, Thank you.”

I was upset and extremely uncomfortable and then something hit me like a ton of bricks. I plopped him in his wheelchair and spun him around quickly so he wouldn’t see my tears.

This greatly suffering man, soon to die, had long hair, a beard and purple splotches covering his body. I had just held the scourged Christ.

“Be kind, especially with the infirm. Love them well … Oh yes! Be kind. It is a great grace God is giving you. In serving the aged, it is he himself whom you are serving.” – St. Jeanne Jugan, Foundress of the Little Sisters of the Poor.

KANSAS CITY — Walk through the doors of the Jeanne Jugan Center of the Little Sisters of the Poor, and the first thing you notice is the peace. Residents, visitors, staff and volunteers cheerfully greet you whether they know you or not. Since arriving in Kansas City in 1882, the white-habited Little Sisters have established a palpable culture of love, kindness and care for the elderly and infirm. You can almost breathe it in as you walk through the halls.

That was what drew Marcella Benedict, then a widow in her 80s, to the home. According to her daughter, Barb Deane, Marcella was still fairly active when she moved in: still drove her own car during the day, quilted and saw her three children and friends often. Osteoporosis, however, was making inroads, and she decided to move to the Jeanne Jugan Center. Barb said the whole experience of her mother’s living and dying at the Center “was terrific.” Her brothers Tom and Jim and his wife Cece, joined Barb in attending Mass in the Center’s chapel, and then stayed to visit and have lunch with their mother on many Sundays.

Marcella had her own room on the first floor, but as time passed, she developed additional health issues, including gall bladder problems and macular degeneration, and could no longer live independently. She moved through the Center’s different care levels, first to assisted living and later to skilled nursing. Through the years, Deane recalled, her mother received unfailing “whole-person care,” personal, medical and spiritual. “The Sisters, staff, volunteers, everyone was always kind and respectful to Mom,” she said. And when death grew imminent, “the Sisters, the medical supervisor and staff did a wonderful job of preparing us.”

Little Sister Beatrice Mary Scully said “we truly believe in the presence of God in each person,” and when God calls a resident home, “it’s a precious experience.” She added that in the more than 130 years the Little Sisters of the Poor have been a presence in Kansas City, the Sisters have “had the privilege of accompanying 5,500 local elders on their journey home to God.”

The residents are elderly, often dealing with some physical disability or illness, and the close of life and return to God is treated with respect, dignity and caring. That is part of the charism, the special mission of the the Little Sisters of the Poor, to serve the aged, the infirm and the poor.

Marcella enjoyed a “high quality of life” at the Jeanne Jugan Center “because of the care she received,” Barb Deane said. “Words are inadequate to describe it. The kindness, the love and the respect shown to each resident, as well as the medical and spiritual care, relieve the anxieties of the families. Every day Mom was clean, groomed, makeup and nails done, earrings on. There was no fear about the end of life. It was an absolute blessing.”

Ella Howse, 65, a nursing assistant at the Kansas City home for more than 30 years, has fond memories of Marcella. “She was a good little lady,” she said, “and sharp. She loved cats, so I called her Cat Lady!”

She said Marcella was a “dedicated Catholic of the old school. But she could tease the Sisters and staff! She loved makeup and lipstick. She looked so cute! That’s the key to making them happy; treat each person with love and respect. Don’t forget, they had a life: work, husbands, wives, children and maybe grandchildren, before they came here.”

Barb described her mother’s last days: “Mom came from farm people. Her church and faith got her through things in life. She said the Rosary daily. So as she grew weaker, the Sisters arranged for one of them to always be with her, praying with her, holding her hand, watching over her.”

Sister Beatrice agreed. “We watch and pray day and night when death is imminent. We greatly encourage families to be there with residents at the end of life and we’re always available for them at this time. When death is near we alert the chaplain.” She smiled. “Now, our watching and praying doesn’t always end in death. We get surprises and a resident rallies.”

Ella said each sister stays an hour or more, singing and praying near the resident, “There’s peaceful music playing, a rosary in their hands, and nice, pretty sheets on the bed. The family is made to feel like they’re at home. The Sisters and all of us get to know them. We cry with them. We become like family.” She added, “Marcella knew she was dying and she was at peace with herself. So it was peaceful.”

Barb recalled that as her mother neared death, she heard one of the Sisters say, “’Call the Sisters.’ I wasn’t sure what she meant, but I was getting a sense of absolute peace, a letting go, in a good way. Sisters began gathering in her room, surrounding us. They began singing. I understand that is part of the ritual, the sisters gather to sing the dying person to God and to heaven. It was a Latin hymn to the Blessed Virgin. I felt a sense of release. I could let Mom go.”

Sister Beatrice explained the hymn was the “’Salve Regina, Hail Holy Queen.’ The wording is a powerful prayer to Our Lady for her intercession. We sing it at every death of a resident, confiding their soul to the Blessed Mother in those last moments. As Jesus said to Peter, James and John when he found them asleep while he was in agony the night of his betrayal, ‘Could you not stay awake one hour and watch with me?’ Daily, we each take an hour to watch with the resident, while at night one Sister watches. Each Sister says a different prayer or sings her own hymn to the resident to show her highest esteem for the human life. It has nothing to do with us. The beginning and the end of life is in God’s sacred domain.”

She said that as a resident nears death, other residents stop by to talk to them, sing with them or simply stroke their hands. Often they witness other’s deaths. It gives them a sense of security and peace: they know they won’t be abandoned, left to die alone.”

Barb said the message of the Little Sisters of the Poor is always the same: “They are here to serve folks regardless of their station in life. They serve them kindly, lovingly and cheerfully until the end. Life is a journey and the next part of that journey is to meet God. The Little Sisters will be with a resident and their family as they end one journey and begin the next. The end of Mom’s life was a gift to her and to the rest of us. My memory of her passing is so beautiful!”

]]>http://catholickey.org/2015/07/28/key-classifieds-july-24-2015/feed/0A few small things in his handshttp://catholickey.org/2015/07/23/a-few-small-things-in-his-hands/
http://catholickey.org/2015/07/23/a-few-small-things-in-his-hands/#commentsThu, 23 Jul 2015 21:39:22 +0000http://catholickey.org/?p=7389

I don’t know if you have ever had something happen to you that was extremely surprising or awe-inspiring, but web marketers tell us that some of the most shared video content on the internet encompasses these two emotions.

The most celebrated case is the appearance of 47 year old Scottish singer, Susan Boyles on the 2009 season of Britain’s Got Talent. When Susan appeared on this show she was nearly twice the age of the other contestants and she was dressed in a very plain outfit which seemed out of place. In fact she looked so improbable that the judges appeared to roll their eyes at her and looked immediately dismissive. The audience began to mutter. Everyone was expecting the worst.

Then Susan began singing “I Dreamed a Dream” from Les Misérables. The beauty and power of her voice transformed her and the audience was literally awestruck. Within seconds the entire audience was standing and cheering wildly. The judges looked at each other in disbelief and utter surprise at the transformation they had just witnessed. Susan’s debut video is still receiving comments on YouTube and now has more than 172 million views.

The human emotions of surprise and awe were equally moving during the time of Jesus’ ministry in ancient Galilee. In John chapter 6 Jesus performs an awe-inspiring miracle involving the multiplication of loaves. Imagine Jesus standing in front of you tearing off pieces of bread that multiply in his hands. People talked about their experiences with Jesus and large crowds followed him.

John tells us that this miracle took place near the Passover. Jesus retreated to a mountain and the many people followed him. Seeing the crowds coming, Jesus tests Philip by asking him, “Where can we buy enough food for them to eat?” God’s testing isn’t a discovery on his part, but an opportunity for us to gain self-knowledge and increase our faith. Abraham is tested in Genesis 22 and his faith grows. Israel is tested repeatedly in the book of Exodus (15:25; 16:4; 20:20).

Philip gives a realistic answer to Jesus question, “Two hundred days’ wages worth of food would not be enough for each of them to have a little [bit]” (6:7). For some reason Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, speaks up and gives Jesus an answer informed by faith, “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish; but what good are these for so many?” (6:8-9).

By faith Andrew is able to see the one thing that Jesus is looking for. Small things in the hands of God, can become mighty deeds. This principle has three aspects.

The psalm response for this Sunday is, “You open wide your hand and satisfy the desire of every living thing.” First, we should not be afraid to ask God to help us with our own needs. Yes, we should pray for others, but it is not wrong to ask God for our own needs. In the Lord’s Prayer Jesus taught us to pray, “Give us this day our daily bread” (Matthew 6:11). God cares about our small everyday needs.

Second, if we accept by faith that small things in the hands of God, can become mighty deeds, we will also realize that God does not limit himself to working through a few special people. As we are tested by the many trials of life we can ourselves become the small thing that God will use to perform his works in the world. What good are five barley loaves and two fish to feed five thousand men? Jesus was able to take the ordinary bread of the poor made from barley rather than wheat and with that to perform a mighty deed for his kingdom. We might be tempted to say that we are just ordinary people with nothing special to offer. In the hands of Jesus we become Christ in the midst of the world.

Finally, as we are each personally challenged by this teaching that small things in the hands of God, can become mighty deeds, we must realize that we are each being called to a deeper degree of discipleship. Crowds of people follow Jesus to the mountain, but the next day Jesus challenged them to go deeper than this initial faith. Jesus said to them, “I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world” (6:51).

The crowds wanted to stand back and merely recognize Jesus as a prophet and the Messiah (6:14-15). They wanted to make Jesus an earthly king. The crowds did not want to allow Jesus to take each one of them in his hands. They wanted to keep their faith impersonal and distant. They wanted to be spectators to the mighty deeds of Jesus without allowing themselves to become a sacrifice in his hands.

Has our faith become a spectator sport? Are we sitting on the sidelines? Have we told ourselves that we are too ordinary to be used by God? If we are ready to have our faith tested and to give our hearts to Jesus, then we need to offer him the five loaves and two fishes, even if we also say to him, “what good are these for so many?”

Are we still standing in the crowd? We need to find Jesus, to come face to face with him. Three practical ways we can do this are to begin to prayerfully read Sacred Scripture, to spend time in personal prayer, and to accompany Jesus by joining in some apostolate to others. We can also encounter Jesus in community with other disciples. As our faith increases these activities will make our sacramental life come alive.

Imagine what impact it would have on our life, our families and our parishes if each of us would come to our Lord and offer him the small things he has given us. Imagine our own personal experience of awe as God works through us.

Scott McKellar is associate director of the Bishop Helmsing Institute.

For the second session of Camp Savio in Atchison, Kan., 120 middle school age campers gathered to learn, grow in faith and have fun. (photo courtesy of Vitoria Silva)

By Jen DeCosterSpecial to the Catholic Key

Camp Savio celebrated its five-year anniversary this summer. Camp Savio for the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph started back in the summer of 2011. A tornado struck the campgrounds where Youth Ministers Diane Pickert and Tim Volk took their middle school students every summer leaving them searching for a new site. The staff at Maur Hill Mount Academy encouraged them to hold their camp on their grounds in Atchison, Kansas. The first camp was called Edge Camp and the first year was full of trials but many blessings emerged.

In the years following that first week, the camp directors made improvements and stepped up activities for the campers and were able to add additional staff. “So much has changed about Camp Savio since it first began. We have grown exponentially in numbers- with 82 campers and chaperones and 7 staff members that first year. This year we had 214 campers and chaperones and 45 staff members. We have also grown exponentially around campus. We now have so many things around campus we didn’t have that first year – a low ropes course, a 100 foot slip N slide, bubble soccer, giant games, and things most people wouldn’t notice like a sound system and professional lighting,” says Katie Troup, Diocesan Youth Office Assistant and Camp Director.

Sara Doolittle from St. Peter Church in Stanberry, Missouri has attended Camp Savio with her family since the beginning when she was in second grade. As a first year middle school camper, she says, “It is really fun, I’ve been looking forward to it for a lot of years by getting to watch the older kids experience camp. My favorite part of camp is the group Adoration night and bubble soccer.”

This year’s theme was “Inspire[d]” and Divine Mercy. Penni Warner, Youth Minister at Holy Rosary in Clinton, Missouri said, “Camp Savio taught us about God’s mercy and forgiveness, through the big sessions, small groups, Mass, Adoration, and fun it inspired us to want to go evangelize and share that message of mercy to others.”

Camp nurse and St. Therese parishioner, Kim Kennaley, applied what she learned each night to her work every day. “In my role as a nurse, I’m showing them mercy and compassion when they get hurt. I am being a role model by showing them they can help others show mercy,” she said. “The theme ‘Inspire[d]’ is about showing them they can reach out to others, to show them compassion and mercy and to inspire them to be disciples of Christ.”

Campers and staff members call Camp Savio their second home. Olivia Messina, a fourth year staff member from St. Gabriel Parish said, “Camp Savio means family to me because being here builds friendships that last a lifetime.”

Angelica O’Brien from the Archdioceses of Detroit and a first year staff member said, “I think that there is something special about this camp, there is so much love and everyone genuinely wants to help and there is a spirit of genuine Catholicism expressed and lived out. It is definitely a community.”

This is Samantha Whitt’s second year of camp. She is from Holy Trinity in Weston, Missouri. “I came back because it’s fun and it’s a fun way to learn about God. We learn about God through the activities that we do,” she said.

Isaiah Roberts, from St. Gabriel Catholic Church said, “My favorite part is the relationship you get to build with God through fun activities.”
For other middle school campers, their favorite activities ranged from Schlitterbahn to bubble soccer to Hungry Hungry Hippos to the group Adoration night on Friday.

In 2014, the Camp Directors learned that camp was not just for the campers. Last year there were many conversions among the staff and chaperones, some coming back to their faith after 20 years.

Don Bowlin from St. Patrick Church was a first time chaperone this year. “What a gift I get to engage with my kids and their friends that they interact with every day. It’s nice. I also got to see how they saw me,” Bowlin said. “There is a tighter bond between the campers and the parents.” Bowlin also added, “I’ve grown in my faith, and I am going to go back and help with youth group. I am going to be an active member and I didn’t expect that.”

Week 2 campers build team work and balance in this low ropes element experience. (photo courtesy of Vitoria Silva)

There are also opportunities for teens no longer in middle school to get involved. Savio Servants are the High School students who run all the behind the scenes work, such as set up and take down of each activity, running technology, making meals, doing dishes, taking videos and pictures and running the camp store. Victoria Johnson, from St. Therese was a Savio Servant this year and a camper for two years prior. “I like it better being on staff because we get to run the camp and have fun and see what goes into making camp possible,” she said. “Three weeks seems like a long time, but it’s not. It is a lot of fun, you get closer in your faith and find friends who have the same goals in their faith. I am definitely coming back next year!”

The Savio Shepherds are the college students who work directly with the campers and chaperones by leading the daily activities, small groups and providing relational ministry to the campers. As a Savio Shepherd, Messina said, “being on staff is something that has helped me in my faith life to learn new things to teach the campers and by helping them deepen their faith and build leadership skills.”

Another difference this year was that Camp Savio was blessed to have a priest on campus for the entire week. Father Ryan Koster was one of the priests for the week. “My favorite part of the week (apart from bowling over people in bubble soccer) was the final night of Adoration,” he said. Nothing could have prepared me for what I saw when I came back into the auditorium after hearing confessions for an hour; a profound and sacred silence that was at the same time deafening with the prayers of those kids. If it was up to me, I would have turned around and given them the rest of the night there but the culminating Benediction was also a very powerful moment.”

Father Koster saw the change in the campers as their experiences in camp built a stronger foundation in their faith. “This experience bleeds into their everyday lives and shapes them as better Catholics, as better stewards of their faith,” he said. “They can then carry on in High School with other retreats, including helping out with Camp Savio as Savio Servants.”

Savio is a Diocese of Kansas City – St. Joseph camp, though it is currently held in Atchison, Kansas. The future plan is to move it to the Missouri side. “Camp Savio is an important program for our Diocese because of the change it allows for the youth in their lives or the strengthening of the faith that their families have instilled in them. This program strengthens the family, parish and their faith,” says Michael Nations, Director of the Office of Youth Ministry and Camp Director.

Starting at the first Pentecost, all kinds of Catholic priests and bishops have found all kinds of effective ways to use mass communications to share the Good News with the world.

In our time, American and Canadian Catholic priests have succeeded brilliantly at this for over 100 years (though miracles haven’t usually been involved). They include Fr. John Noll (newspapers, 1912), Ven. Fulton Sheen (TV, 1951), and a host of people working with audio and video cassettes, CDs, DVDs, and the Internet.

This is where the newest and almost newest of all possible KC–SJ diocesan priests enter the picture – to carry forward a tradition stretching back far beyond Fr. Noll.

Last year Fr. Andrew Mattingly was a seminarian at the North American College in Rome. One day last October he decided to pitch an evangelization idea he liked to two of his classmates over lunch.

“But when they explained to me the whole plan for the podcast they had been planning, I decided to scrap my own project and get in on theirs,” he said.

Thus was born “Catholic Bytes,” a podcast series that made its debut last June 29th. It will run every Monday and Wednesday until the fall of 2018, and it’s for anyone with web access and ten minutes to spare who’s interested in learning more about the Catholic Faith.

A podcast is like a little radio program distributed only on the Internet. There’s nothing to see, only voice and maybe music to hear.

A podcast is also not a web site, though Catholic Bytes podcasts are accessed at the web address below.

Anyone with an Internet connection can download a Catholic Bytes podcast to a PC, a laptop, a smart phone, an iPad or an mp3 player. All these devices will access all 450 planned Catholic Bytes podcasts as they become available.

About 60 programs have been recorded since last February. Hosts have included Fr. Mattingly and his cohorts Fr. George Elliot and Deacon Greg Gerhart, both Texans, and seminarian Joseph Heschmeyer from the KCK Archdiocese.

Father Andrew Mattingly

Hosts work from outlined notes. The programs are unscripted so each podcast can have a more informal, approachable feel, Fr. Mattingly said.

Topics include Catholic dogma, liturgy, history, apologetics, spirituality and Scripture study. Personal testimonies will be heard from time to time, and every First Friday there will be a special segment on the lives of the saints. Fr. Mattingly explains further:

“The ultimate goal, of course, is to help people to come to love Christ more. Unfortunately, many people don’t really associate the idea of ‘knowledge’ with ‘love,’ even though they are actually fairly interconnected.

“What I mean is that, when you truly love someone, you want to learn more about them, and learning more about them should make you want to love them more. The same is true in our relationship with Christ. If we claim to actually love Christ, then we will naturally seek to learn more about Him.

“That’s the goal of the podcast. To help people learn more about Christ, and in so doing, to love Him more.”

Fr. Alex Kreidler has been a Catholic priest nearly ten minutes longer than Fr. Mattingly – both were ordained in St. Joseph last June 27 – and he will host Catholic Bytes podcasts from the North American College starting this fall.

“Podcasting enables people in modern society to access the Faith in a convenient way and perhaps even in a little more private way than a one–on–one conversation,” he said.

“It’s a quick way to learn about the Faith, especially for people who don’t know where to go to do that. The more I learn about podcasting, the more interested I am in it.”

All Catholic Bytes podcasts will be accessible at the website, www.catholicbytespodcast.com. Or listeners can subscribe to the podcast for free on iTunes, or get more information at Facebook or Twitter, or link to goodies like Patristic classics at the podcasts themselves.

Audio gear was donated, but other than that the three founders are paying for everything out of their own pockets and plan to launch a new Catholic Bytes project this fall.

“Frankly speaking, we had neither the time, money, or resources to invest in a video project, which would’ve required a great deal more of all three of those things than a podcast,” Fr. Mattingly said.

]]>http://catholickey.org/2015/07/23/new-kansas-city-priest-helps-spread-the-faith-in-bytes/feed/1A special last resting place for veterans, first respondershttp://catholickey.org/2015/07/23/a-special-last-resting-place-for-veterans-first-responders/
http://catholickey.org/2015/07/23/a-special-last-resting-place-for-veterans-first-responders/#commentsThu, 23 Jul 2015 19:29:33 +0000http://catholickey.org/?p=7382

The Legacy Garden at Mt. Olivet Cemetery in Kansas City and at Resurrection Cemetery in the northland offer a special last resting place for those who have served their country or their community. (Marty Denzer/Key photo)

By Marty DenzerCatholic Key Reporter

KANSAS CITY — What is a legacy? According to the Random House Dictionary of the English Language, a legacy is a gift or bequest, or anything handed down from the past, as from an ancestor or predecessor. At Mt. Olivet and Resurrection cemeteries in Kansas City, the Legacy Gardens remind visitors that America’s heritage is being preserved by the men and women who serve in the military, or as first responders, police and firefighters.

The now open Legacy Gardens offer a final resting place for those who have served their country or their community.

Dedicated November 11, 2011 — Veteran’s Day — the Legacy Garden project was launched earlier that year by Steve Pierce of Muehlebach Funeral Home, Charlie Passantino of Passantino Brothers Funeral Home, now managing partners of Catholic Cemeteries, sales consultant Jim McGilley III, Tripp Johnson of Johnson Granite Supply and the Catholic Cemeteries staffs. Resurrection Cemetery on NE Cookingham Drive and Mt. Olivet Cemetery on Blue Ridge Blvd., were selected because of the availability of land needed for the undertaking.

Veterans of all branches of the military as well as all First Responders, who have provided for both the safety of the United States and of local communities, now have their own special place of rest.

Permanent memorials are available, allowing families to dedicate a granite bench or flag in honor of a loved one who has died but will always be remembered. As of now, four benches, designed to accommodate cremains, are on site at the Veterans Memorial Garden and at the First Responders Memorial Gardens at both cemeteries. The Legacy Gardens incorporate above-ground burials in a mausoleum or columbarium, as well as in-ground burials in graves suitable for both cremains and casketed remains.

The Legacy Garden at Resurrection Cemetery is located near the exit onto Cookingham Road, where it can be seen by all who enter and exit the cemetery. The Legacy Garden at Mt. Olivet is located near the southwest side of the cemetery between the St. Therese and Sacred Heart gardens. Steve Pierce commented that the location allowed the First Responders and Veterans Memorials to be visible from everywhere in Mt. Olivet. Being able to see it from all across the cemetery “also memorializes those veterans and first responders buried in other parts of the cemetery,” he said.

Former director of Catholic Cemeteries Joe Harris explained what goes into the design and opening of a modern cemetery. Most modern cemeteries are about 60 acres of platted grounds, he said. A modern cemetery means any cemetery designed or opened after 1948, including Mt. Olivet.

With older cemeteries — St. Mary’s Cemetery, founded in 1873 in Kansas City, and Mt. Olivet Cemetery founded in 1893 in St. Joseph — serving as guides, the planning and developing of a cemetery has come a long way.

From their inception, the Legacy Memorial Gardens at Mt. Olivet and Resurrection cemeteries in Kansas City incorporate centuries of cemetery design, aided by modern survey and architectural science, artists, vendors, and good old-fashioned manual labor.

Very early in the project, Charlie Passantino and Steve Pierce partnered with Catholic Cemeteries to discover what families want with respect to personal burial decisions. They then partnered with Johnson Granite Supply, a local granite design and supply company, as to the type of feature to distinguish the Legacy Garden from other gardens, which in turn led to a veterans’ focus group who shared ideas of what they would like to see in the new garden. Catholic Cemeteries’ grounds staff and area nursery experts determined the species of trees to plant and where to plant them. Lastly, they met with a landscape architect, a surveyor and an engineer who drew up plans to show what the gardens would look like.

The trees were planted at the time of the garden surveys and given a unique grave location, which was then taken out of inventory so that no one would be able to purchase that location in the future. When each tree was planted, two to four graves were assigned to it and taken out of inventory so each tree would have adequate room to grow without encroaching on anyone’s grave, or damaged if a grave is dug near them in the future. This is done with the assistance of nursery professionals.

The Veteran’s and the First Responder’s Memorials were also removed from inventory before any sales were made to ensure that enough space for concrete walkways and the Memorial symbolizing the garden’s significance. One gravesite will be a permanent dedicated site for future flag disposal ceremonies, in which worn-out or damaged U.S. flags are respectfully retired and destroyed by fire, as called for in the United States Flag Code.

The Legacy Gardens are peaceful places of trees and plantings for the last resting place for veterans and first responders.

Grave sites in the Legacy Gardens are available. For more information on the Legacy Garden at Mt. Olivet and Resurrection cemeteries, contact Mt. Olivet at (816) 353-1900.